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Ex-WCA coach Knapp tells his stories

Weakened by chemotherapy and the days that he’s connected to a dialysis machine, Ted Knapp spends his time now writing about football and telling the numerous stories he recalls from his days as a coach.

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Ex-WCA coach Knapp tells his stories

Weakened by chemotherapy and the days that he’s connected to a dialysis machine, Ted Knapp spends his time now writing about football and telling the numerous stories he recalls from his days as a coach.

There are a lot of stories, he says, enough to fill at least one book that Knapp will be in Opelousas to promote with a signing scheduled Saturday morning at Java Square.

Knapp was undergoing another dialysis treatment in Georgia on Monday afternoon, but the always garrulous former Westminster Christian Academy head coach was speaking affably by telephone about his career as an author.

The football book is the second that Knapp has written since he curtailed his coaching career after he said he was diagnosed with amyloidosis/myleoma, a rare blood cancer.

Knapp said his first book, self-published several years ago, was a children’s book, inspired by the desire to connect with nine grandchildren.

That book, which Knapp is still selling from his home in Peachtree City, Ga., has been surprisingly successful., he said.

“I have the copies that I sell out of my garage. I really did nothing much to promote the book. I’ve sold it mainly by word of mouth,” Knapp said.

The interest in the children’s book generated the inspiration to write another, Knapp said.

This time the topic was football, a sport that Knapp helped begin at Westminster as the school’s first coach.

Since leaving WCA where he spent three seasons, Knapp later coached across the South, working at various Christian-oriented schools, including Sherwood Christian near his home.

“After the first book, people told me that I needed to write a book about football. I began writing it about 18 months ago,” said Knapp.

Knapp describes his book as “eclectic,” something which he said, “covers a lot of ground.”

The football book, Knapp said, is partly autobiographical, about playing the game and then beginning a coaching career at age 24.

“Then there’s another section about some of the players that I’ve coached and how playing the game of football changed their lives. I include their stories in this book,” said Knapp.

Knapp plans to arrive in Opelousas a day early and spend Friday night watching Northwest High host West St. Mary.

Northwest’s first-year head coach, Chris Edwards, played for Knapp at WCA, as did Jason Burns, now an assistant on the NWHS staff.

“I’m going to address the (Northwest) team before the game and talk to them about their coaches and how to play the game and play it right,” said Knapp.

Knapp said he was diagnosed with terminal cancer about six and a half years ago, but he’s managed to extend his life beyond the initial diagnosis.

“It’s a type of blood cancer,” Knapp said.

Since then Knapp was also fought with another blood disease, which he said causes an overproduction of protein in the blood and affects the organs, including the kidneys.